


Second Chance

by Tolaya



Category: Transformers Generation One
Genre: Character Death, Character Development, Complications, Death, Destruction, F/M, Fate & Destiny, Hate, Hope, Implied Sexual Content, Loss, Love, M/M, Purpose, Reincarnation, Reunion, Violence, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-11-02
Updated: 2014-01-11
Packaged: 2017-12-31 06:24:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1028303
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tolaya/pseuds/Tolaya
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There is War. There is Hate. There is Love. There is Loss. There is Hope. There are two factions. But what no one knows is what the death and the rebirth of one of the deadliest Decepticon warriors brought into life is going to bring into the equation and outcome of a war threatening to erase the Cybertronian race from the game board of life.</p><p>When Primus wins Thundercracker’s spark in the unending game play with the Destroyer it changes everything. Every corrupt soul belongs to the Destroyer, but Thundercracker who has lived among some of the most corrupted souls the Cybertronian race can show shines like a beacon of hope. The war hasn’t gone to his head and he lives for his trine – even as corrupt as his trinemates may be. When he during a battle with the Autobots on Cybertron sacrifices himself to take the shot Megatron aims at his trineleader, his self-sacrificing act sets him free of the shackles the Destroyer binds every decepticon with – their souls blackened with the need to murder and live for their own goals.</p><p>This is the tale of good and evil, of love and hate, and of hope and loss. Will one soul be enough to save a whole race?</p><p>EDIT: Chapter 2-7 added. New Chapters will follow soon.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue: The Death

_A dice rolls on and on in its infinite travel across the unending game board signifying life._

“STARSCREAM!”

A panicking scream.

_It stutters in its travel, unseen obstacles throwing it around._

The sound of metal hitting metal.

“THUNDERCRACKER!”

Another panicking scream.

_Speed slowing, the dice fights to keep rolling, its destiny finally reached._

A bright flash.

The sound of sizzling metal as it bends and buckles under the onslaught of a fusion blast.

_The dice finally comes to a stop, its travel at its end._

A frame stifles painfully in the air as the spark in its center is extinguished. The grey frame is falling rapidly to the ground far down below.

A trinebond severs.

Twin screams of anguish.

_The dice rests peacefully in the center of the unending game board of life, its upturned side having the full attention of two mastodons._

_“You win Primus.” Unicron grudgingly accepts._

_The God of Creation nods before he reaches for another dice, this one having thousands of sides._

_How do you measure the life of one who willingly sacrifices his life for another?_

_How do you measure the good in that instant held against all the evil that one has done through all life up until this one self-sacrificing act?_

_The God of Creation rolls the new dice and both mastodons watch its fluid travel as side after side changes. When its momentum slows down and each turn is a fight it finally finds rest._

_Both mastodons stare at the upturned side._

_“Very well.” Unicron growls and the Destroyer’s attention turn away from the blessed spark which now belongs completely to Primus._

_With a smile The God of Creation takes the thousand sided dice, still looking at the blank white surface of the upturned side._

_“Very well.” He mirrors the Destroyer’s words. “Thundercracker, you have proved yourself worthy of rebirth. Use your second chance to form the life for the ones around you.” The God of Creation proclaims and the initial dice begins to roll again._

In a neutral settlement far from Cybertron a sharp cry sounds as chestplates begin to part in the first stage of birthing a seekerling.

A spark emerges from its carrier and gently guided by a medic it settles inside the prepared protoform.

“Welcome into life Thundercracker.” Affectionate voices greet the newborn as the spark settles inside its protoform and slowly takes on a beautiful light blue color.


	2. Seekerling - Youngling Stage

**Seekerling - Youngling Stage**

" _He is growing up so fast. I can't believe it is time for him to have his first upgrade."_

" _I know dear. Soon he won't even need us anymore."_

Secretly listening to the hushed voices of his Carrier and Sire Thundercracker smiles from where he is hiding.

Soon.

Soon he will be able to fly for his very first time without the support of his creators. His first upgrade features thrusters that much he knows from the other seekerlings and youngling seekers living in the settlement.

Silently retreating from the common room, he returns to his own room where he should have already been recharging.

Soon.

The smile stays even as he enters recharge.

Soon he will be 10.000 vorns old and due to the upgrade, just a few more decaorns and he is old enough.

* * *

Three decaorns later a pristine blue youngling seeker emerges from the medical facility and proudly shows his larger wings and impressive thrusters to his friends and family, relishing in their awe and congratulations. Happy tears shines in the corners of his optics and lifting his helm he looks longingly up at the sky.

He has waited so long for this very moment.

Parting from the group, his Sire walks towards him, a wide smile on his lips as he gently kneels in front of the youngling. Completing a final check on the thrusters he slowly rises and looks down at the expectant look in the blue youngling's optics.

"Ready for your first independent flight?" Darkfire asks the youngling.

"Yes Sire." Thundercracker answers, nodding eagerly.

"Do as the medic told you; only add a little power to them to bring yourself into a hovering position before you ignites them fully." Darkfire explains as he follows his own instructions and hovers just above the ground. It looks so easy, but when done first time it is easy for the youngling to overdo it and get hurt in the process.

But Thundercracker is hovering beside his Sire less than a klik later without any complications and he beams proudly up at his Sire. It is like he has been doing this his whole life.

"Very good Thundercracker." Darkfire compliments a bit stunned. "Now let me see you transform while you add just that more power to your thrusters."

Facial features turns deeply concentrated and the sound of transformation follow as gears shifts and moves and slowly form a small tetrajet form. The roar from the thrusters grows in volume and then suddenly splutters, the small tetrajet making a somersault before the youngling seeker regains control and plummets to the ground in an undignified heap of limbs.

Bright shocked optics stares up at Darkfire and slowly the cheeks takes on a red blush of embarrassment.

"Good attempt Thundercracker, but you fed your thrusters too much fuel and drowned their engines. Let's try again, more carefully this time." His Sire encourages with a smile, a servo reaching down to bring the youngling up right again.

After several failed attempts Thundercracker finally gets it right. Whooping at the success he joyously rolls in the air and then ends up losing control, finding himself on the ground moments later. It seems flying is much harder than he anticipated.

"Don't worry Thundercracker; soon it will be the most natural and easiest thing for you to do." His Sire sooths, and with a nod the blue youngling initiates the lift off sequence again, this time flying without any foolish antics.

Joined by his Sire, he slowly gains altitude and speed. Now and then following cues he tests his abilities in the sky and feels how the air welcomes him, caresses his smooth form as he travels the sky. With optical sensors looking down he follows the reddish contours of the planet they have made their home and marvels at the distance he now can see.

Then a deafening sound fills his audio receptors and startled he transforms in the air, struggling to regain control and stay hovering by his thrusters and he looks around to identify the source of the sound. Beside him his Sire has done the same.

"There." He hears his Sire say and following the pointing arm he stares into open space as large bright objects just barely pass by the planet, so close that he can see the fire licking the surfaces of the objects. Then they are gone, the sound dulling to a faint rumble.

"Asteroids." His Sire explains calmly.

But Thundercracker is too caught up in a strange feeling pulling at his spark to listen. Only when the pull at his spark fades to almost nothing is he able to turn his attention back at what they are doing.

"Oh." Is his distracted answer and his expression is one of deep puzzlement.

When they land again, he distractedly rubs his chestplates, optics glazed over and his attention diverted to the mystery taking hold in his spark, the strange longing awakening.

"Are you okay Thundercracker?" the concerned voice of his Carrier filters into his audio.

"I…don't know." He gently murmurs, looking up as his Carrier kneels in front of him, optics worried.

"What is it my little one?" the Carrier asks.

"My spark feels strange." He shakily answers; shuddering as he remembers how the pull at it almost had felt like it was leaving his frame completely.

His Carrier shares a look with his Sire and then a gentle smile forms.

"Sounds like you are ready to find your trine. Your spark is looking for those which are going to complete it." His Carrier reassures and gently rubs his left shoulder in comfort.

"Trine?" he asks in awe, knowing that forming the trine would be the most important part of his life.

"Yes. And luckily you got several seekers to choose from in our settlement." The Carrier encourages. "I am sure you will find the perfect trinemates among them."

"Yes Carrier." He smiles, but the smile slowly fades at the feeling in his spark telling him that none of the seekers in the settlement is for him.

Rubbing gently at his chestplates, soothing the aching longing raging in his spark he contemplates the meaning and purpose with his life.

And tries to hold onto a faint hope of gaining a trine.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Anyone guessing the origin of the asteroids?


	3. Youngling - Adolescent Stage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thundercracker is now 20.000 Vorns old, equal to almost 2 million years.

**Youngling - Adolescent Stage**

" _Don't mind that dysfunctional failure."_ The words are spat just as a group of younglings passes by the blue seeker, one of them almost colliding with him and stopping to apologize, causing the other seeker to utter the acidic comment.

The spoken words no longer cause him to turn around and look at the one speaking. After almost 10.000 vorns of living through more and more colorful insulting words, Thundercracker has grown immune to the taunts from his fellow younglings, and now also, as he reach adolescent stage, the almost mature seekers.

And the words aren't some of the most offending he has heard.

Shooting longing glances at the group sharing friendly banter, Thundercracker feels a pang of loneliness and pain in his spark and he turns his attention away from the group of happy younglings to carry on his lonely way.

It all began when other seekers began to court him to become trinemates.

Everything would go well for a very long time; he would connect with his suitors, have fun and enjoy life. But once it came to the bonding and creation of the trine everything shattered.

Every time he tried to bond his spark discharged fierce flares of energy which hurt both himself and his intended and forced both younglings into temporary stasis lasting for several orns as their systems recovered from the damage caused.

When it occurred again and again at every attempt to bond and trine to his fellow younglings, offers began to fall away and rumors rose about his 'glitch'. During the last 4000 vorns no offers has been made and even friends no longer wants to be associated with him, causing him to be completely isolated from the rest of the society.

He fulfills the required education together with the other younglings, but except for the lessons he is completely ignored.

A seeker reaching the adolescent stage without having trined to one or both of his trinemates is extremely rare, and Thundercracker feels the stigma against untrined adolescent seekers in their little society.

Fighting against the tears threatening to fall from his optics, not wanting to give them that satisfaction, he begins his lonely way home, wings drooping low on his back as he walks.

Keying to door to their home open, he just stares for a moment before he enters.

Even his home isn't a safe haven.

While his creators don't bother him with the missing trinemates, other things have begun to haunt him.

While he lives through a nightmare during the day cycle of the orn, he is haunted by the Pit during his recharge cycles.

Dreams and nightmares has followed his recharge during the last 2000 vorns, and as time went the nightmares became more and more appalling, while the dreams rose a deeper and deeper longing to belong somewhere.

At the moment his recharge is filled with nightmares of war, destruction and himself bathing in his enemies' energon. He usually wakes screaming from those, and when he finally calms enough to go into recharge again the disconcerting dreams follow, dreams of him and two other seekers and even if the dreams awake feelings that scares him, he still can't get enough of them.

Those dreams provide him with what he doesn't get from any others; happiness, friendly banter, joyous moments and intimate connections. And even if they are only dreams, they allow him to keep going in an increasingly unfriendly society.

He just wishes that they were real and there for him outside his dreams.

Entering his room he relaxes on the berth and offlines his optics before he drifts into the unwelcome nightmares but most cherished dreams.

_He is flying above a large city, huge spires reaching far into the sky and… fire, explosions, blazing inferno, the crackling of structures giving under and crashing to the ground far far down below. Anguished screams follows all around, seekers falling from the sky, missiles filling the air aiming towards him._

" _Thundercracker!" A voice he knows?_

_A black and purple seeker teleporting into his vision. A servo grabbing and then coldness all around before he enters the world again far from the destruction of their city state, their home._

" _Skywarp, where is Starscream?" he hears himself asking the black and purple seeker, Skywarp? Who is he? Who am I? And who is Starscream?_

_The black and purple seeker fidgets and won't look at him._

" _Sky?" softly spoken._

" _The palace was completely leveled when I teleported to get him. I-I don't know where he is…" Anguish filled voice. He can read Skywarps mind 'Don't know if he survived.'_

" _I really wish we had trined already, public opinion be damned." He growls, feeling the need in his spark to know if his intended is safe, but unable to without the trinebond._

" _We need to find him. I need to KNOW." Determined he looks at the destruction happening in the horizon, optics narrowing at the large space ships filling the air where previously proud spires had stood._

_Then the open channel crackles and their intendeds capture is announced by the Autobot Council, his crimes following and the trial announced to commence the following orns._

_Scowling darkly Thundercracker transforms and flies towards the hovering space ships, unleashing attack after attack in blind rage._

' _How dare they! It is them attacking a peaceful city state, killing civilians and destroying everything!' A loud groan from one of the space ships and a well-placed shot at the engine sets it on fire as the hull tears, bringing it crashing to the ground among the debris of a once flourishing city state._

_Heavy artillery fire and his wings are shredded and unable to carry him in the air. With a roar of rage he falls to the ground crashing with force. His wings are ripped from his frame at the impact and his awareness blurs with the loss of energon. The last he remembers is the red insignia on the mech standing over him, a blaster in servo and cold blue optics._

Thundercracker wakes with a soundly gasp, his wings fluttering wildly reassuring him that it all was a nightmare and that he still have his wings. With a franticly pulsing spark he rises from the berth, staggering to the energon dispenser and pours a cube, hoping to calm his distressed state with some fuel. As he slowly gulps down the energon, his processor races with the memories from the nightmare.

Skywarp. Now the seeker finally have a name.

The seeker had never before occurred in his nightmares, only in his good dreams and seeing the black and purple seeker there among all the destruction unsettles him greatly. But the memory of them almost being trine fills him with joy that someone wants him, even if it is just in a nightmare or dream. Emptying the cube and placing the empty cube on the desk he returns to the berth hoping for a more joyous dream after this nightmare.

With a deep sigh he offlines his optics and once again drifts into recharge a smile forming on his lips as the usual welcome dream occur to ease all the fear and angst from the nightmare.


	4. Adolescent - Mature Stage

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thundercracker is 30.000 Vorns now and almost ready for his Mature and final upgrade.

**Adolescent - Mature Stage**

He soars through the light gravity of the red planet they call home, happiness fluttering in his spark.

It is today.

Today that he is going to confess his love.

Looping and barrel rolling he is a magnificent display of joy above the busy settlement.

When his destination comes into his vision he slows down a bit, and a sense of seriousness filters into his spark dulling some of the eagerness. This is serious matters and he can just hope that his intended is going to accept his courting to become sparkmates.

He is aware of his standing in their society, and it causes a small tendril of nervousness to worm its way into his happiness.

Diving and transforming elegantly in front of Blazing Nova's home, the nervousness grows in his spark and with a wildly pulsing spark he pings the door.

Kliks tick by slowly as he waits for the response and when the door finally swoosh open dread joins the nervousness in his spark. It is Blazing Nova's Sire who opens the door and greets him, and the optics filled with disdain as the large seeker takes in the sight of the adolescent blue seeker - who nervously fidgets at the sight of the mature seeker – doesn't promise well.

"What do you want?!" the Sire growls aggressively.

"Is Blazing Nova home?" Thundercracker asks, unable to meet the narrowed optics of the mature seeker.

"And if she is?!" the tone is definitely threatening now and Thundercracker gulps as he tries to get his processor to work through the fear filling him and form a coherent answer. But just as he is about to open his mouth and reply, the seeker he is there to meet interrupts the unpleasant meeting with her Sire.

"Sire, who are you talking to…." She doesn't finish the sentence as she sees the blue adolescent seeker standing there, and with widening optics both stares into each other's optics.

"Thundercracker…" She breathes, and his spark flares at the tone with which she whispers his designation.

"'Nova." He responds just as breathless, optics devouring her beauty and she shyly looks away, her golden wings trembling slightly and he want to believe it is his doing. Forgotten is the cranky Sire and it takes several noisy harrumph before the spell between the two adolescent seekers is broken.

"C-Come in." Blazing Nova stutters, a servo waving him inside. Ignoring the low growl from the Sire, Thundercracker smiles as he steps over the threshold. So far so good he muses, hoping the rest of his purpose with being there succeeds and she accepts.

Following her to her room, he can hardly take his optics off of her amazing wings. They aren't just beautiful, but breathtaking, and the first time he saw her on the race track where the youngling and adolescent seekers spent their free time competing with each other, his spark soared. No one could beat her in the air. She is the fastest seeker in the settlement and highly sought after because of that. That she would even spent her time together with him, more or less an outcast in their society mean a lot to him.

It didn't take long before feelings began to bloom in the blue adolescent seeker. For the first time someone looked his way with care and not disdain, for the first time he felt accepted.

Now with his mature upgrade within the near future, he takes this chance to pledge his feelings and hope to court her and become her sparkmate. Her own upgrade awaits her within the next two decaorns and after that he knows that she will be flocked by suitors and he hope to make a difference before his offer drowns in the crowd.

They stop at the door and he watches like in a trance as her delicate digits pushes in the code to her room.

How he long to take them in his own, hold her tight and murmur loving words in her audio as they cuddle. But it is for another time.

First he has to confess his true love for her.

* * *

It is a spiritless Thundercracker who lands in front of his home and with dull empty optics keys in the code to the door. When it swooshes open he stiffly stumbles inside, his frame moving on its own accord, knowing the direction of his rooms on instinct.

"Thundercracker?" his Carrier's worried voice sounds, but it doesn't filter into the shell shocked adolescent as he stops in front of his door and digits having their own life keys in the code.

Standing just inside the threshold his optics lands on the picture of Blazing Nova beside his berth and finally his unemotional expression cracks, feelings and emotions bleed into his optics and his knee joints give out, bringing him to the floor as tears flows freely from his optics and soundly sobs escapes his vocalizer.

She had rejected him, had rejected his love for her.

" _Absurd!"_

" _We are friends Thundercracker. I can't sparkbond to an outcast! I'm sure you understand that."_  She had told him. And then she had laughed as his broken hope had showed on his face, laughed at his silly and foolish hope.

The fact that she had called him an outcast had hurt him the most. Never before had she taken that word in her mouth, never before had she ridiculed him.

Crawling to his berth he grasps the picture with shaking servos and gently lets a digit trail the widely smiling figure portrayed on it, tears dripping and covering it in a purplish shade.

"Why?" he whispers in anguish. 'Why did she have to be so cruel?'

"WHY!" he roars after some painstaking moments of silence and then throws the picture with as much force as he can muster and shatters it against the far wall.

"Why!" he croaks as he stares at the destruction he has created, "Why are you doing this to me Primus?! What have I done to deserve this fate?" he then suddenly yells, the unfairness of his solitary fate seeming so cruel in the face of rejection by the only one making his life worth living.

"Why?" he keeps asking, until his voice is barely a whisper and recharge claims him.

* * *

It takes several orns before Thundercracker emerges from his rooms and when he does he looks like a walking dead. He has neither refueled nor washed and his face is streaked with the dried traces of tears, but a strange accept fills his optics as he meets the optics of his Sire and Carrier.

"Are you alright Thundercracker?" His Carrier asks in a careful voice, the sight of the blue adolescent clearly answering the question that no, he is not alright.

"I'm fine." Thundercracker sternly dismisses the concern and turns to his Sire.

"Do we have any records from the time before you left our home planet to form the settlement?" he asks, calmly meeting the searching look his Sire casts him after hearing the question.

"Yes… But why are you suddenly interested in the war?" his Sire ask, sharing a worried glance with the Carrier.

"I just…want to know what happened to cause you all to leave…Cybertron." He answers, his processor racing to remember the name of their abandoned home planet.

Releasing a deep sigh Darkfire nods.

"I will take you to the archives later. Right now you need to visit the medic to prepare for your transfer into your final upgrade." his Sire then adds, hoping to lighten his creation's mood, but failing miserably. Thundercracker just nods and turns on the spot, returning to his rooms to clean himself up before entering the hated society surrounding him.

Later in the orn he is completely immersed in datapads telling all the tales from the Great War and much to his surprise some well-known designations shows up in the records. Starscream and Skywarp, but more surprisingly also his own designation and it makes him ponder deeply on the implications. A designation belongs to the specific spark, defining the very personality of that spark and no designation is ever duplicate. So how can his own designation exist in records older than himself?

He discovers their affiliation with the decepticons and curiously digs deeper into the meaning of the two factions fighting the war. He rages at the fact that Vos, his city state, had he been born on Cybertron is destroyed, and mourns the destruction of her fellow city state Praxus. There seems to be so much unnecessary destruction and slowly he begins to understand his creators' choice to flee their home planet and form this settlement together with others wanting to remain neutral in a war slowly eradicating their whole specie.

Digging into the stories about the famous Command Trine, featuring his own misplaced designation, he greedily reads about the three deadliest decepticon seekers ever existing, with the malicious, snide and treacherous Air Commander Starscream, the crazy, unpredictable and psychopathic Skywarp, and the silent, unemotional and cold sparked Thundercracker.

Coming upon a picture of the three seekers together during a battle with fire licking all around their altmodes as they fly above a city state he can't recognize because of all the destruction, his optics linger on the light blue seeker.

Thundercracker, one of the deadliest decepticon warriors ever sparked.

Fear grips his spark and he shudders, feeling lucky to be far away from the war and the destruction it carries with it and his processor is still unable to understand the mystery of the shared designation with a murderer of thousands of sparks, who probably still roams in the skies of their home world, killing their own specie.


	5. Space Traveler

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We jump again in time, and now Thundercracker is 40.000 vorns old, having had his mature and final upgrade for 10.000 vorns. Hope you can keep up, there will be only one more jump in time and then the story truly begins.

**Space Traveler**

A sudden loud and deafening boom shatters the calm reigning in the neutral settlement and several hundred pair of optics stares up into the sky, watching the ball of fire completely surrounding the frame reentering the red planet's atmosphere from outer space. Airborne seekers seek to the ground in safety, while a few curious younglings try to take to the sky to get a closer look, but are firmly stopped in their suicidal actions when large servos grips their wings and forces them to the ground. No one is to interfere during a reentry, simply because of the unforgiving forces at play. Getting too close and anyone not designed to handle the forces gets incinerated.

A few murmurs sounds, barely discernible because of the continuous boom of the reentry. Then recognizing the frame as the ball of fire slowly dies out around the large frame most returns to their business and ignores the blue seeker as Thundercracker adjusts his flight and compensates to remain stable while he cools his heated plating in the following smooth descent to the surface of the planet.

Landing in front of the medical facility Thundercracker transforms smoothly and runs a few diagnostic scans while he gives his frame a visual examination to make sure everything is functioning properly after the harsh reentry into the planet's weak atmosphere. With a satisfied nod he enters the facility to have a medical checkup. It has become standard ever since the first time the blue seeker missed a major glitch in his flight system that later caused him to crash during a regular flight, a glitch that his self-diagnostic scans didn't find.

The forces active during a reentry is merciless on any transformers systems, even those built to withstand them, and ruthlessly tears apart anyone who don't respect the danger and knows how to compensate and enter atmosphere at the correct angle. There is a reason why most transformers travel in regular space ships instead of carrying themselves through space, but for those few having the ability the experience is one of the greatest in their whole existence. They are free in a way no one else is.

"Home again I see." Vectra, their CMO asks with a smile, seeing the blue seeker enter the facility. Then she motions for him to take place on a free berth. They both know the drill after this long and with a respectful nod Thundercracker lies down and opens several ports to allow the CMO to plug in and scroll through every system. Withdrawing a datapad from subspace he hum a little tune as he reads through all the notes he has made during this travel in the solar system.

"Anything interesting?" Vectra asks curious as she sifts through code after code looking for glitches or larger damages to sectors. It is no secret between them that Vectra is fascinated with all the discoveries the blue seeker makes during his travels to the various planets and have taken a liking to Thundercracker's favorite planet as well. It is simply just so diverse in life forms, and to see life developing is captivating for the medic.

"A few more new species while those small critters with their blue fur have seemed to vanish completely. I didn't come upon them once during my search of the landmasses this time. But at least they live on in my data and won't be forgotten." Thundercracker comments and sympathize with the sorrow in the medic's optics at the sad news; she had really loved those small life forms. "But I found this one" and he holds up the datapad showing an image capture of some large furry animal with a long flexible trunk. "I'm calling it a mammoth because of its size. It is one of the largest life forms I yet have seen on the planet and they seem to live in the colder weather higher north on the planet." The blue seeker explains, with a blinding smile hoping to lighten her mood with the new discovery.

"Oh my Primus Thundercracker, they are beautiful. And are they really as large as I think they are? One third of our height?" She stops completely in her procedure as she studies the image and the following data collected about the life form. "How I wish I could join you some orn." She breathes wistful, optics sparkling with joy and Thundercracker knows that this life form has become her new love while the extinct one is forgotten, yet preserved in his large collection of data.

With a smile he nods in answer and shows her another image capture, and another and another until they have been through all the new data he has collected and both their processors is brimming with all the potential of that single planet circling the same sun as their own. It is mind boggling that so much life can flourish so close by while their own planet is a dry dusty red orb lacking any life beyond themselves.

A few cycles later he exits the medical facility, waving his goodbye to Vectra and steps out into the groups of seekerlings and youngling seekers waiting expectant to hear about his adventures. He might have accepted his solitary fate in regard of trine and sparkmate, but the positive attention coming from the new generations is at least forcing him out of the isolation he for a time had had to accept as well after his final upgrade.

It had taken him a few hundred vorns to decide what he wanted with his life, and with no strings attached he had chosen the scientific way, deciding to dedicate his life to the exploration and discovery of the worlds around his own. It became a way for him to flee the suffocating society still stigmatizing him and became his salvation as well with the sparkling expectant and accepting optics of the new generations.

At first his creators had been shocked when he decided to upgrade his frame to handle space travel and when he emerged from the surgery he was larger and more bulky than any seeker. His new and less aerodynamic look had been a source of teasing from the other seekers, but he didn't care. He might be slower now, but he was free and his first departure from their home planet had been liberating in a way he had never imagined.

Let them tease and be scornful; he would see things they never would.

During his first few trips he had explored the small solar system, mapping out the various planets circling the young sun. Much to his surprise every planet seemed to have traces of energon deposits in their underground. But even if they shared this common factor, the large divergence in core and surface of the planets made it most unlikely to reach some of those deposits. As he studied the planets and the solar system, he began to understand why this solar system, and why the red planet had been chosen for the settlement.

Then he had landed on the planet 53183, named after the familiar procedures from Cybertron and added to the large record of planets when he realized that it until then had been undiscovered. One after one he categorized the planets in the solar system, giving them the proper scientific names and listing their various data, but he felt drawn to 53183 in a way he couldn't explain. Maybe it was its strange abundance in weather? Until then he hadn't paid much attention to the surface of the planet, and it was first when he revisited that he realized that it carried life.

"TC!TC!TC!" the chorus of eager expectant voices draws him from his memories and looking down in the expectant optics he smiles. Somehow the nickname always awakens strange emotions, fond emotions.

Crouching in front of the large group his smile widens when their optics instantly turns to his large broad wings and he flickers them much to the youngsters delight.

Behind him Vectra rests against the doorframe to the medical facility and smiles at the display. The solitary explorer awakens strong feelings in her spark, but she knows he will never see her like that. Seekers seek out other seekers as mates and never look at grounders that way and she knows Thundercracker is no different, had he not accepted his solitary fate. Listening to him as he retells his exploration and add in dangers and adventures with a fierce and mysterious voice enthralling the youngsters, a solitary tear trails from her right optic.

With a swelling spark, longing to feel him embrace her, not just like a friend but as a lover, she drowns in her usual daydream of the two of them together as she follows his enticing gesticulation in front of the youngsters as the story develops to a true adventure of fierce monsters and deadly enemies.


	6. The Humans

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last time jump in the story, and Thundercracker is now 50.000 Vorns old. From now on every chapter will follow the direct action of the previous. For clarification: One planetary rotation is a human day. One solar rotation equals a human year. 1 vorn equals 83 human years.

**The Humans**

Much to Thundercracker's surprise and joy, 53183 keeps surprising him every time he returns to the blue and green planet. It isn't just its ever changing weather, which he has detected a clear pattern in, but the developing life forms. And this time a new marvel of the universe presents itself to him in the form of a new life form which clearly shows sentience.

His last trip to the planet is more than 1000 vorns ago. An energon shortage had begun in their settlement shortly after his return from the last trip, when large explosive solar winds expulsed from the sun had caused enormous and unending sand storms to rage on the surface of the red planet, keeping the rays from the sun from reaching their converters. There had only been one solution to secure their survival and while their space ships were unable to leave the planet due to the large interference the sand storms caused in the delicate equipment, Thundercracker had had no issues maneuvering through the hostile atmosphere of the planet. He had taken several trips out into the suddenly more dangerous space to set up converters on the suitable planets to secure a continuous flow of the needed energy to the settlement. Together with the few scientists in the settlement they had solved the issues with transferring the collected energy over the abyssal distances.

Now he returns to 53183 to remove the converters located on the planet, and as he come upon the strange new life form which seems to have spread widely around the planet he feels that what he does is right. He can't know yet how this sentient life form will develop, but he knows that its early beginning needs to be without any alien interference. His future visits need to be more careful from now on and he will have to study the development from the distance.

Flying north to the location of Vectra's much loved mammoths he lands as he detects the new specie's presence even this far north, and curious he follows the group of small two legged life forms from the distance. Soon he watches a small flock of mammoths and with a piqued interest he watches the group of two legged beings gather with more of their own kind.

What Thundercracker doesn't know is that he is watching one of the first human populations, the Clovis and that their time is nearing their end as their prey, the mammoth is almost extinct. The flock he watches now might be one of the last existing and soon even that one will be gone as the humans prepare to attack the still unsuspecting flock. But while the mammoth is on the edge of extinction, the human race will live on and develop from their early forefathers.

When the massacre begins, Thundercracker looks away torn between saving the mammoths, knowing that Vectra will be so sad to hear about what is happening on the flourishing planet, and let the massacre carry on. But steeling his resolve he turns his optics on the happening a few miles away. He has never interfered in the way life changes on the planet, and he isn't about to do it now! One race falls while another rises, that is how life is for everyone in the universe, the transformers included.

Making sure the converter is secure in the subspace designed to handle its large frame Thundercracker glances one last time at the bloodied surface of the earth, a humorous smile much to his surprise forming on his lips at the clear victory dance the sentient beings performs, then he transforms and blasts into the air determined to return soon and follow the future development of this new race. He has a feeling that this one is here to stay.

The roar of his engine carries far, and the group of humans startles and franticly looks around to find the source of the otherworldly sound. A blinding glint of the sun reflecting on blue space capable plating catches their eyes and they all kneels in awe and fear at the sight, praying to what has become their new deity of hunt, thanking for the blessed hunt in an increasingly hard existence. Soon they will have to abandon their usual hunting areas and venture south over the melting landmasses of ice and into the main land of what is to become America.

* * *

Next time Thundercracker returns to 53183, 50 vorns has passed and as he blasts through the thick atmosphere this time a great surprise awaits him. While 50 vorns is nothing for a transformer, it equals to more than 4000 of the planets solar rotations. The Clovis people are long gone, and new civilizations have risen from the legacy of their ancient forefathers and adopted new ways of living. It is in the middle of the Stone Age and agriculture is slowly being implemented.

Deeply fascinated by the sight of life and civilization everywhere he go on the planet, he watches in stunned awe as even the furious oceans is mastered by the new sentient race as they fearlessly ventures on trading routes with other civilizations over several thousand miles.

He is so engrossed in the wonder happening in front of his optics no matter where he looks that the 20 orns he has scheduled to be away from home just perishes like that, and it is a grumbling seeker who has to depart 53183 and all its wonders to return home and restock his resources. But he wove to himself that this time no more than 10 vorns will pass before he returns to the new wonders happening then.

* * *

Earth, 18 May 2009, somewhere in Central America:

A lone F4 Phantom on a special mission flies high in the sky, its destination one of the air bases belonging to the American Air Force. Down on the earth it is a calm sunny day, only the sound of the airplane disturbing the peace and the few humans looking up at the traveling Phantom frowns at the unusual sight. The F4 Phantom was out fazed in the middle of the 90's and the remaining of the kind has been converted to drones used by the Air Force during target practice and testing of new types of fighter jets. But as the plane moves out of sight and the sound fades, they all return to their own doings the peculiar sight soon long forgotten.

In the meantime Thundercracker locates his destination and eagerness enters his spark. It is always fun for the explorer to complete a mission like this. He feels the same joy a seekerling would when getting a new toy to play with and a new toy it is. The old F4 Phantom he adopted when it was released is getting old and even if he learned to love it over time it has always felt too small for him, his new disguise however is just the perfect choice – even if this one carries weapons as well.

He has never felt at peace with the wars developing during his self-appointed undercover mission among the race he finally has named "Homo Sapiens". During his stay on the planet he has witnessed two world wars and the destruction coming from such destructive actions - even if they pale in comparison to what he has seen of the war on Cybertron – is a nightmare of itself, with all that pointless death.

But war seems to be in their blood and no matter how many wars rages on the surface of the planet the humans seem to prevail in surviving and developing even more and stronger weapons causing even greater destruction. At times Thundercracker feels a need to intervene, and sometimes he does, at least during the recent times ever since he acquired the Phantom disguise.

But time changes and if he is to not draw attention to himself he needs a new disguise, one that is blending in in the air.

Landing on the tarmac he ignores the sounds from the human control tower as he travels down the long run way to the hangars. It doesn't take much time for him to locate the reason for his visit and with a spark pulsing wildly with glee he activates his scanner and lets the rays gently caress the perfection of the air craft in front of him, the F-22 Raptor, his new identity.

A moment later the F4 Phantom is gone, replaced with a perfect imitation of the F-22 in front of the blue seeker, the only difference his blue color persisting. With a hidden smile, and ignoring the shocked expressions on the humans watching the change he tests his engines with a deep purr.

It is brutal power, limitless potential, and a spark suddenly energized on a power trip as the roar from the engines awakes diffuse memories, flighty thoughts and teasing whispers from a time firmly locked behind the strongest firewalls never to be released to the present identity of the blue seeker's spark. The F-22 speaks to the warrior he once was but is no more.

With force Thundercracker reins in the sudden passion flaring through every circuit of his frame and instead of just taking off following the deep need of his frame to be airborne, he turns around on his small wheels and positions himself at the beginning of the run way, following the memorized procedures the humans follow and takes flight in one smooth move, his engines screaming defiantly to everyone wanting to cull him.

Much to his surprise a deep rumbling roar responds to the screaming of his engines and grows during his ascent high into the atmosphere and confused he transforms to look around and identify the source. With optics scanning the horizon it doesn't take long before he finds the source and his optics widens in marvel.

Mt. St. Helens has not only erupted, but exploded, sending kilotons of ash into the atmosphere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know many usually have the seekers use F15 Falcons, but i wanted something outdated in 2009, to explain his need to change his disguise and in some way the Phantom looked less intimidating compared to a Falcon weapon wise. Remember we have with a peace loving explorer and scientist to do and not the warrior Thundercracker.
> 
> And if you havent figured it out yet, the settlement is located on Mars.


	7. Visions come true, and a trinebond is mended

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ready, Set, Action! This is the last chapter among those i have been working on the last weeks, from now on updates will come as the muse will it. But don't worry, I'm dying to work on the next chapters. There will be surprises, and the next chapter will have some twists. Chapter title will be "Reincarnation of the spark, and a few changes" then you can mull on that and the implications:P

**Visions come true, and a trinebond is mended.**

Earth, 18 May 2009, the mountain range Cascades:

With a destructive force of a few dozen megaton St. Helens caldera is blown sky high and the volcano spews out kilotons of lava, pumice and ash to the atmosphere. Soon the ash reaches the lower stratosphere and prevents the rays of the sun from reaching the surface of the earth, covering an area of several hundred miles from the volcano in a dusky darkness.

As the human air traffic is guided to the nearest safe airports Thundercracker hovers to study the marvel of the nature on 53183, being the only plane able to remain flying in the growing cloud of ash, but even he needs to be careful.

Deep down below the volcano a spaceship is rattled by the explosive eruption and previously offline equipment stirs awake. Deep down below the volcano battle-hardened warriors is rising and an eon long war is about to restart. Deep down below the volcano humanity's only hope for survival lies still in dormant stasis as their longtime enemies rises to wreak destruction on the blue and green planet.

Unknowingly to Thundercracker this is the moment where his destiny begins anew. This is the moment he has been reborn to witness. And this is the moment where he will be forced to deal with and hopefully accept and embrace his unknown past. 53183's future depends on it.

While Thundercracker hovers, marveling in the pure destruction the nature of the planet can cause, the Decepticons prepare to leave the Ark and their Autobot adversaries behind in their silent tomb. With an evil sneer Megatron stares at the unresponsive carcasses of his enemies, his optics catching some well-known frames, one red, white and blue, another black and purple among all the ruined frames. With a cruel smile he turns his back on them and follows his troops out of the crashed spaceship.

"A fitting tomb, don't you think Starscream?" he asks the stasis locked tricolored seeker with a smirk, almost expecting the patented snarl in return, but only silence is his answer. He is almost tempted to turn around, bring the treacherous seeker online and have him watch as they abandon him to his slow and painful demise, too weak to do anything but die.

With a sudden thought and a last glance over his shoulder Megatron's optics catches on something and with cold and calculated optics he shoots every single console in the command center, completely destroying the automatic repair sequence logged into the main computer of the spaceship, taking the autobots' and the two seekers last chance for survival away from them, should some rouse from their stasis. This  _will_  be their final resting place.

"Goodbye Prime, I win, you lose!" is his official farewell as he stands outside the spaceship every one of his decepticons standing and waiting for him to give the signal to take off.

* * *

" _Follow your spark young one."_

The voice coming from nowhere and everywhere jolts Thundercracker from the marvel of the volcano and a sudden painful pull on his spark, as if it is about to be ripped out of his frame forces a groan from his vocalizer.

" _Trust your instincts. Always follow your spark."_

Another painful pulling surge in his spark follows the words and he is sure he feels his spark chamber begin to crack at the force wrought upon it.

"… _instincts. …spark."_

"Instinct? Spark? What is this? What do you w-ARGH!" He almost loses consciousness at the next pulling surge and fighting to keep himself in the air he pants as his spark pulses wildly, searing agony filling his whole being as he fights against his spark's urge to leave his frame.

" _Give in. Follow instincts…spark knows, spark recognizes…destiny."_

"I still don't understand?" he answers to the words flowing to him, the growing confusion and pain building into a beginning panic attack.

The next onslaught physically moves his frame several meters in the air and  _finally_  he understands. Transforming into his F-22 jet mode he offlines any sensor and sight and allows the feeling in his spark to lead him. As he gives in the pain instantly abates and the pulling doesn't feel so uncomfortable anymore.

"I trust." He communicates and a flare of warmth envelopes him as he is lead to wherever he is needed.

* * *

When he regains full awareness again he is standing at the bottom of a large crack and looking at the unearthed entrance into a spaceship. He can still feel a pull on his spark, but it is gentler and not forcing him anymore, but even if it isn't a punishing feeling anymore he is still as much a captive to it as before. He is sure that if he tries to leave this place it will return in full force. Even the thought about leaving sends a painful pang into his spark.

"I trust." He gasps in response to the painful pang and it slowly abates allowing him to calmly walk to the entrance and touch the strangely familiar outer shell of the space ship. It doesn't take long for him to locate the cybertronian glyphs and when he does his spark almost skips a pulse.

A spaceship from Cybertron. What is it doing here this far from their home planet or the settlement on the red planet?

Questions rises in his processor while he studies the outer damage, then deciding not to stall anymore he activates the opening of the entrance and a deep rumble rattles him as the mechanisms begin to work and open the large blast doors.

With a final loud clank the doors lock in open position, grating him access to the mystery of the spaceship. Looking into the dark and silent corridor beyond the doors he only hesitates for a moment to gauge the feeling of his spark. 'Trust. Trust. Trust.' He reminds himself as he slowly enters, wincing at how loud his footfalls sound in all the silence.

"Hello?" he asks into the silence, hearing his own voice echo down the corridor and spread down the adjourned. A few breems of calling with no result convinces him of his lone presence in the space ship and with a deep sigh he offlines his optics to allow the weaker pull on his spark to guide him.

Left here, right there, straight there, around another corner a moment later and then…right in front of him is his destination. The pull is almost painful now, growing with intensity as he gets closer and as he stands there now, he is almost afraid to online his optics and see where he has been lead.

When he onlines his optics it is to darkness, all-consuming darkness. He can't even see his own servos when he holds them in front of his optics and shaken he reaches out to locate anything to guide him. The smell of burnt circuitry is everywhere around him, and strange to find in a spaceship which clearly have been buried for what must be millennia. When his right servo connects with a doorframe he feels all around it and instantly come across the blast damage tearing the door out of the frame.

'A battle then?' He muses silently as he investigates his surroundings further to get any indication of the room he has been lead to.

As he enters something instantly catches his optics, and with a frown he stares at the burning red color of molten circuitry in what he presumes is consoles filling the whole wall to his left. It provides him a weak light and everything in what must have been the command center of the space ship gets an eerie glow. Using the sparse light he looks for anything to provide more light but everything in the room is completely destroyed. The only solution is a radical one, but he need to see to know why he has been lead here.

Releasing the locks on his chestplates he bares his sparkchamber to the room and allows the glow from it to dimly light the room in a calm blue hue.

"Why do you want me…here." he asks as he turns around in the room, bathing it in the dim light from his spark, until his optics lands on what can only be the outline of an arm. With wide optics he walks closer and to his horror the light reveals more and more frames. "Oh my Primus!" he utters shocked, rearing back from the nightmarish sight of fellow cybertronians in such states. It all brings up the nightmares he used to have before his mature upgrade, dreams of war, death and destruction, and… "Oh no! Oh my Primus, NO!" he yells as the light from his spark reveals winged shapes among the frames, seekers. Familiar seekers.

But his spark leaves him no time to understand. The pain returns tenfold and forces him to his knees. Crawling on servos and knees it forces him closer to its destination.  _Home. Protection. Unity._ The glyphs pulses strongly inside him and while nothing feels wrong the feelings are completely drowning out any thought he might have, his spark's only goal to reach the two sparks it recognizes.

In immense pain he looks down at the damaged frames of the seekers, pinpricks of red and black disrupting his sight and soon the pain is so great that he collapses unconscious, but then he has done what he should, bringing the spark of the old decepticon warrior Thundercracker close enough to his lost trinemates to reforge their broken trinebond.

A movement of air where no one moves and chestplates part, revealing two weak sparks shining, seeking, forging, bonding and becoming whole once again with their lost third. Unconscious to the world Thundercracker is unaware of the systems stirring as the reformed trinebond awakens the two stasis locked seekers.


	8. Reincarnation of the spark, and a few changes

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you can keep up in this chapter. First major twist in the story.

**Reincarnation of the spark, and a few changes**

Deeply unconscious and on the verge of stasis-lock, Thundercracker is swept away in vivid dreamscapes standing clearer in his processor than any other dream he has ever had.

" _You know I hate you, right?" The words coming from a strained vocalizer is filtering to him through the hazy fog surrounding him, and when Thundercracker finally is able to see his surroundings he finds himself in large and rather prominent quarters._

" _Oh, I know that sweety. Why else would I do this to you?" another deep and rumbling voice mocks, the rattling of chains following the statement._

_Turning around to locate the owners of the voices he is greeted by the sight of two seekers enjoying themselves on an extremely large berth. One is clearly chained to the berth with heavy chains, making it impossible for the black and purple seeker to move, while the blue and grey seeker is moving with deliberate thrusts between the black legs, pants escaping both vocalizers as they copulate._

_::Can't trust 'Warp enough to turn your back on him at any time, even as trinemate and wingmate.:: A commentary voice fills Thundercrackers processor from nowhere and he frowns._

_Studying the withering mass of the two seekers on the berth he silently moves closer, embarrassment filling his spark at his perverse curiosity, but then again it isn't like they are even aware of him being there. As he moves so close that he can almost touch the blue wings, he stops shocked. The purple decepticon sigils stands out proudly on the flared wings, but what catches his optics is the two strips along the wing edge, one red and one white. Moving to the head of the berth he leans down and looks into the face of the other, disbelief filling his whole processor as he is unable to process what his optics sees. Even if it isn't a hundred percent match, the blue seeker looks almost identical to him, and with a shudder he realizes that he is face to face with the decepticon warrior Thundercracker._

" _Hgn. Fraggit Thundercracker! Harder!" Skywarp growls, fighting in the chains keeping him suspended._

_::One more breem and he is going to teleport and place an energon dagger in my back.:: The commentary voice returns in his mind, laughter filling the words and Thundercracker feels sick at the thought of someone finding such violence fun. The laughter just deepens at his feeling of disgust._

_But the predicted action doesn't happen, because just then the door to the quarter's opens, and instantly weapons are trained on the door, humming to life as the previous laid back blue seeker trains most of his attention on the intruder; however his thrusts into the other never falter one bit._

_When the tricolored frame of a seeker emerge from the door the humming lasers instantly folds back into the blue seeker's arms and his movements into the seeker beneath him stops completely as he gauges the moody tricolored seeker as Starscream simply ignores the both of them to sit down at the console._

" _Star?" the blue seeker asks concerned, ignoring the whining from the black and purple seeker beneath him. A moment later Skywarp is free of the chains and on top of the blue and grey seeker, snarling into the other's face, a dagger digging into the thin plating of a blue wing, forcing an enraged roar from the blue seeker._

"' _Warp you crazy GLITCH!" is bellowed and an outright brawl between the two seekers commence, Starscream momentarily forgot in the danger the black and purple seeker pose. Deeply shocked Thundercracker rear back from the fighting seekers before they by accident collide with him and discovers him. He sure as the Pit won't survive any encounter with them, of that he is sure. The energon dagger is torn out of the wing and thrown, passing directly through Thundercracker in its travel through the air and imbedding itself into the wall mere inches from Starscreams helm, not even causing the tricolored seeker to react to the danger._

_Collapsing on the ground, completely paralyzed Thundercracker stares at the deadly dagger now dug deeply into the wall and his processor is about to seize up completely, not comprehending one bit what is going on. This is the liveliest dream he has ever had, nothing beats it, ever!_

_A breem later the blue seeker roars furiously as a beaten, broken and submissive Skywarp hangs limply in his servo, roughly forced up against a wall._

_::I really hate when he leaves me no choice but doing that. Between a crazy psychopathic glitch and a self-centered, treacherous egomaniac you have little peace.:: the commentary voice adds with a deep exasperated sigh._

_The painful yelp escaping Skywarp draws Thundercracker's attention, and his processor still fighting to understand what is going on almost enters overdrive at the sight of the ungentle way the blue seeker brutally ruts into the barely conscious seeker, seeking an outlet for the battle rage still rattling his frame and processor. Appalled he watches the growing pool of energon coating the floor beneath the two seekers, and in disbelief he listens to the growing pain – pleasure tinged sounds escaping the black and purple seeker; it is almost like the seeker likes the treatment._

_Then a few breems of rough treatment later Skywarp wails out in clear overload, convulsing in the unforgiving wise grip the blue seeker has on his frame and then finally enters unconsciousness, his systems locking down as self-repair begins to sort out the worst damage. Discarding the stasis-locked black and purple seeker with a grunt the blue seeker withdraws his still erect spike and with a groan forces it behind its cover before turning to the tricolored seeker who hasn't moved one bit during the tussle._

" _Star?" the blue seeker gently asks, walking to the console and kneeling in front of the catatonic like seeker. A servo rubbing at a blue leg seems to draw the tricolored seeker out of his trance and with a shudder life enters the red optics._

" _TC… You were right, I am a Vision." Starscream croaks devastated, servos rising to cover his face as he completely crumbles in front of his trinemate._

_With a deep frown Thundercracker watches the display of the two seekers, not understanding what is so wrong to cause such reaction._

_::Visions are breeders.:: the commentary voice explains, ::And I guess Starscream never truly believed in his own coding, believed that it would never really activate in our dysfunctional trine with a Vision turned Order, and an insane Action more inclined to kill his Vision than protect him. And me? I tried to do everything I could to protect him against anything no one else would.:: the voice sighs in defeat before it silences again and Thundercracker is able to return to the scene in front of him where the tricolored seeker is clearly sobbing._

" _How do you know Star?" the blue seeker asks, gently caressing a trembling white wing in comfort._

" _Can't you scent it?! I'm in heat!" Starscream screeches in disbelief and regrets it the instant the words has left his vocalizer. He has basically given his Order the 'go ahead' to take him, claim him and spark him and warily he glances to gauge the blue seeker's reaction. But his blue trinemate just looks at him with a worried look._

" _Great, just great. Best timing ever Primus, why not just kill us now?!" the blue seeker sighs exasperated, finally understanding why Starscream is freaking out. A seeker in heat is a hazard in the air, his systems running higher than usual, draining the seeker to the extremes of his energy. Starscream will not last one cycle in the air, and his concentration will be suffering as well, he will be easy prey to anyone targeting him. And this is happening just a few orns before Megatrons big plan to target Iacon, the most challenging stronghold their enemies still possess._

" _Why now TC? Why does it trigger now?" Starscream croaks desperately._

_As the blue seeker answers, the rest of the conversation turns muddled to Thundercracker as fog surrounds him from every side and soon the room is gone in a white mist, leaving the explorer to wonder what then happened._

Systems reboots and oh so slowly Thundercracker regains consciousness, the dream following him into the wake world, filling his processor with questions and mysteries.

'I wonder what happened to them?' he muses as he onlines his optics to darkness and remembers everything before he turned unconscious.

" _I sparked him, and we went into battle."_ Is the court answer from the commentary voice, but this time it is different, the voice sounding stronger and inside his helm.

Questioning his own sanity, he can't help responding to the voice in his helm asking 'Did they survive? And the sparkling?' his curiosity definitely piqued.

" _I…don't know."_ Is the only response from the voice and it is clear that it is retreating to somewhere inside his mind, somewhere where he can't reach it and it is a disconcerting feeling to have parts of his own mind inaccessible. Either it doesn't want any more to do with him at the moment, or the memory is simply too painful.

Alone in his own mind without a voice commenting all time Thundercracker contemplates the mysteries he currently experiences. First the dream which he begins to suspect isn't just a dream but a true memory, and then the voice following him out of the dream/memory. And then there is the two stasis-locked seekers resting beneath his prone frame.

With a groan he begins to rise from where he collapsed on top of the two seekers, aware of his larger and heavier frame crushing the already damaged frames of the two seekers. As he slowly moves off of the two frames, the light from his spark fills the room again, but much to his surprise he stares at the light of two other sparks as well. And it isn't the only surprise he realizes after a few kliks; his spark is now pulsing in complete synchronization with the two other sparks.

Then before he even manages to understand completely what has happened, a pair of optics onlines and of course it has to be Skywarp rousing as the first. With a full frame shudder Thundercracker stares down into the scrutinizing optics of the psychopathic seeker and wonders for how much longer he will be alive.

"Star, where is he?" the black and purple seeker asks with a whisper, optics searching the dimly lit surroundings unable to see the tricolored seeker. The calmness of the black and purple seeker unnerves Thundercracker greatly and he is stunned for almost a breem before he collects himself enough to answer.

"Over there." He answers and points with a trembling servo behind the black and purple seeker, waiting for when the attack comes.

But nothing of the sort happens. Skywarp just follows his pointing arm and a sigh of relief then escapes his vocalizer.

"He is okay. He is alive." Thundercracker hears the black and purple mutter barely audible.

"A-Are you okay?" he asks, confused. Maybe the seeker is damaged in his personality components to make him like this.

"Yes. Yes I'm fine. Who are you, if I may ask?" Skywarp then asks, the optics digging into Thundercracker's own, gauging him.

"I- eh. I'm Thundercracker." the blue seeker answers hesitantly, knowing what reaction this might cause and prepares for the attack he knows surely is going to come.

But he isn't prepared for the humorous laughter following his statement and with growing unease he moves away from the black and purple seeker, wishing he was out in the open and not confined in a room with a clearly insane seeker.

"Good one, I must give you that. But everyone knows that Thundercracker is resting in the Sky Mausoleum hovering in the skies high above what remains of Vos! Don't mock his sacred memory! Who are you?!" Skywarp demands deadly serious, any previous humor suddenly completely gone from his features.

"But I am serious. I'm-"He doesn't manage to say any more before a peculiar feeling suffuses his whole being and a strange sense of calm settles in his spark.  _"Don't fear. Let me handle this."_  The voice is back in his helm. Then he is no longer in control of his frame, and his awareness is forced into the back of his processor, a spectator in his own frame.

"'Warp." Thundercracker, the decepticon greets his long lost trinemate with a dangerous smile. "Since when did you get blue optics? And even if I am honored that you buried me in the Sky Mausoleum, since when did Megatron grant any of us that privilege instead of being recycled for spare parts?" his voice turning into a deep threatening growl demanding answers.

The sudden change in personality jolts the black and purple seeker and the threatening air around him diffuses completely as shock enters his features.

"TC?" Skywarp whispers reverently, blue optics shining bright with tears threatening to fall.

"Who else you crazy glitch?!" the blue seeker snarls.

"TC! It is you? But how? You are dead; we both felt your death in our sparks!" Skywarp cries out, struggling with his damaged frame to sit up and get a closer look at the frame in front of him.

"Answer my questions first!" the blue seeker orders sternly, instantly erasing the happy smile forming on his trinemate's lips.

"All right, all right, cool your thrusters. Megatron never got his disgusting servos on your frame. Wouldn't let him have you after what he did to you! So, I teleported the three of us from the battlefield when I recovered from the breaking of the trinebond, not that it was easy TC I almost lost us into the void. And honestly it was tempting to just deactivate in there and follow you. But I managed to bring us to Vos and the Sky Mausoleum. We…held a minor rite for you there. I'm… _SO_ sorry TC; can you ever forgive me for abandoning you to such a fate? If I…If I had done my duty as Action you would never have died." Tears fall freely from the blue optics in a steady stream as Skywarps words become mere whispers until they completely die out and the black and purple seeker seems lost in some kind of nightmare, his facial features contorted in deep anguish and a keen unwillingly escapes his vocalizer before he can mute it.

" _Hug him for Primus' sake; I can feel your need to comfort him. Don't let your pride hold you back, isn't it clear that he needs it as much as you do?"_  Thundercracker scolds the blue seeker as the decepticon Thundercracker in the face of all the suffering Skywarp clearly transmits through their renewed trinebond remains silent, unemotional and cold sparked.

Explosive rage greets him and he wisely retreats into the inaccessible parts of the mind, hoping to ease the rage with simply not being there as a sensible presence, a whispered  _"Sorry."_  apologizing for his tactless interfering in something he knows nothing about.

Sighing deeply Skywarp visibly gathers himself before he carry on in his explanation, and it is a solemn voice that speaks when he is ready to continue, his optics distant and filled with deep sorrow. "I have never before felt so lost. It took me several orns to really understand and accept that you were truly gone, and would never come back to us. I caught myself in expecting you to enter our quarters every time someone pinged our door, only to be mercilessly reminded of the truth when the one entering wasn't you. It didn't help that Star isolated himself completely in his lab, only returning to the quarters to recharge."

"Then one orn Megatron summoned the both of us to the throne room, and when we arrived he confronted Starscream with the sparkling he knew Star carried. He-…He wanted it terminated. But Star couldn't do it, wouldn't do it. The sparkling was the only thing we had left of you, how could we kill your legacy? So Megatron beat him, and kept beating him until he miscarried, then he threw the both of us into the brig for several vorns, accusing us for treason."

"It almost felt like we spent a life time in the darkness secluded from our treasured sky. Starscream almost went insane, suffering from both the loss of the sparkling and the sky, and the only thing keeping me from careening completely over the edge was the need to care for him and make sure he got the meager rations we were fed. During the worst periods in our imprisonment I talked to him; talked about the good times, the times before the war, before the destruction of Vos and such, trying my best to keep him from giving up completely and start to fade. It was first then I realized how much you had meant for the trine, and how little I had contributed to keep us together. Talk about an optic opener, eh?" Skywarp confess with a weak smile.

"And then it happened. Like sent from Primus the Autobots attacked the stronghold where we were held prisoner and they gave us a choice, deactivate at Megatrons servos or choose to defect. Wasn't much of a choice honestly, rot in the brig or get revenge on the one taking so much from us? Loss can make a mech do some drastic things. So we defected, and between Ratchet and Smokescreen we both healed as much as was possible with the psychological scars suffusing our sparks." Skywarp finishes with a small smile, leaning back and relaxing his damaged frame.

"You became Autobots?!" the blue seeker calmly asks to clarify that he heard right.

"Yeah." Is the relaxed response, Skywarp completely unaware of the brewing storm gathering.

"You became Autobots! AUTOBOTS!" the roar echoes down each corridor of the space ship. The strong hatred filling the blue seeker draws Thundercracker's attention, and as he emerges from his hidey-hole in the processor the destructive feelings rising inside the blue seeker almost chokes him. Trembling he tries to return to safety, but finds himself restrained and unable to flee the dark feelings.

"Well, what would you have had me do TC?! It was either join or die." Skywarp answers agitated, wings hiked high on his back in distress. "Couldn't let him die."

Spark light enlightens black wings and the sight of the red sigils adorning them is like a slap to the blue seeker's face. Turning to the still prone frame of Starscream, white wings reveal the same red sigils, and a roar in denial follows, the decepticon deeply conflicted between killing the two seekers and…hug them.

What a reunion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Clarification: The name Thundercracker refers to the explorer, unless decepticon is added to the name. TC is always the decepticon, and "the blue seeker" will in general refer to the decepticon Thundercracker as well. 
> 
> So, what do you think? Two Thundercrackers recipe for disaster?:D


	9. A touch of divinity, and why reincarnation sucks!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Update: This whole chapter is seen from Thundercracker, the explorers viewpoint. This whole chapter is a small but important twist in the story.

**A touch of divinity, and why reincarnation sucks!**

With growing worry, Thundercracker is a spectator to the conversation between the two reunited trinemates, and the aggression rising inside the blue seeker as Skywarp unperturbed by the feelings he  _must_  sense through the trinebond begins to ask his own questions.

"So, what is your story?" the black and purple seeker asks, his blue optics wide and innocent, audios tuned to hear what must be a remarkable story coming from his trinemate. After all it is so very very very rare anyone is returning from the dead, though it has happened before.

But Thundercracker just manages to hear the mulled "I don't know." and feel the confusion completely drowning out the previous aggression, then his whole being is no longer in the safety of his own mind, but standing on some large, massive and immensely impressive spire high above the ground. The wind is unpleasant and violent, threatening to throw him off the structure any moment and it is a great fight to remain standing.

"… _on the rise of the seventeenth orn of Prima's Blessing with the star of the seventh quadrant shining its light you need to be there where even the dead remains alive…"_  an eerie voice echoes all around him, carried by the wind.

"What do you mean? What is  _Prima's Blessing_? And where is the  _seventh quadrant_? ...where dead remain alive…? I don't understand!" he calls out, the wind picking up and mercilessly forcing him towards the edge. Something tells him that he will not be able to fly in this wind and if he falls… He gulps as the edge comes closer and closer no matter what he does to regain his footing on the surface.

When he finally falls off the edge he can only stare up into the sky, seeing the unfamiliar constellations of stars, and one shining stronger than the other, in a green glow and practically engulfing the whole structure in its light. Then he falls heavily, the wind rushing around him as the ground comes closer and closer.

"Oh Primus, don't let me die!" He begs franticly, trying to transform and gain flight in the merciless wind, but all it does is speed up his fall. Then all of a sudden a large frame intercepts him in his fall, and he lands roughly on a large even surface, grabbing for any leverage on the smooth surface to prevent himself from falling as the frame, transformer, whatever it is, is maneuvering in the unforgiving wind.

"… _When darkness become light, the ultimate action setting free, a new hope for the life we all now will see…"_  Once again he can hear the eerie voice in the wind blowing harshly against him where he is clinging desperately to the large frame, and even if the wind distorts the words it is like they are memorized directly into his spark.

"Darkness become light, ultimate action, hope for life?" with a processor running overdrive to understand the wording and what the voice means, sensing a great importance in what this strange voice wants to communicate, a sense of panic fills him when he simply doesn't understand.

"What do you want with me?!" He yells out to the voice, all his panic and desperation filling his voice as the wind once again picks up and even the large frame is now being thrown around.

Then a bright flash of light right in front of him, them, whoever it is he is clinging to and…

They are no longer in the air, the frame is gone and he is alone on an icy cold floor in complete darkness.

"… _When one never alone become two, and one pleading his life to peace become a source of mass destruction, the time for the final battle has come, and if gods will it, peace as well…"_

With the last word complete silence fills his surroundings, even the wind is gone.

As he slowly collects his scattered thoughts, he begins to recite the riddles given by the wind, mulling on their meaning and message:

"… _on the rise of the seventeenth orn of Prima's Blessing with the star of the seventh quadrant shining its light you need to be there where even the dead remains alive…"_

"… _When darkness become light, the ultimate action setting free, a new hope for the life we all now will see…"_

"… _When one never alone become two, and one pleading his life to peace become a source of mass destruction, the time for the final battle has come, and if gods will it, peace as well…"_

"But what does it mean? Is it even the right order?" he groans in frustration.

"When one never alone…., peace as well… on the rise of the seventeenth…., remains alive… No not right. When one… When darkness… Maybe." He tastes the wording on the three sentences skeptically.

"When darkness become light, the ultimate action setting free, a new hope for the life we all now will see, on the rise of the seventeenth orn of Prima's Blessing with the star of the seventh quadrant shining its light you need to be there where even the dead remains alive. When one never alone becomes two and one pleading his life to peace becomes a source of mass destruction, the time for the final battle has come, and if gods will it, peace as well."

In wonder he whispers the combined sentences and the wording is almost like a complete sentence.

" _Very good young one."_  a voice suddenly sounds and still rather shaken from the turbulent tour in the air Thundercracker rises on unsteady legs to see the new presence. There is a few weak lights shining along the walls in the room he is in, and the figure of another transformer is barely visible in the darkened room.

"Who are you?" he asks, strangely feeling safe in the presence of the stranger on this strange place.

"Oh, I'm quite sure you know who I am." The stranger answers with a smile in his voice and takes that step forward that brings him into some of the weak light lighting up the room. "And even if you don't know it yourself, I know who  _you are_." The stranger adds in a cryptic knowing tone.

As the light reveals a rather old frame, completely white with grey shades here and there clearly showing old age Thundercracker is captivated by the warmth showing in the golden optics, and he unwittingly takes a step closer to the old transformer to get a better look.

"I…honestly don't know who you are. And me? Of course I know myself, I'm me after all." He gently protests, his whole attention drawn to the old one.

A rich deep laugh fills the room at his response and a wide smile forms on the old lips. Then sadness fills the golden optics and a deep sigh escapes the vocalizer.

"I am Primus young one, and no you are not who you think you are. You are what is called a Host, an identity occupying the spark of a reincarnated until the true identity is ready to emerge from dormancy. When that happens, the Host begins to fade. You can't have two identities residing inside the same spark." Primus explains, golden optics keenly waiting to see the young seeker's reaction to what is revealed.

"So…you are saying that I don't really exist? But how is that possible, I am here, talking to you right now! That must mean that I do exist…" Thundercracker protests as his processor is almost stalling.

"You exist as long as you are needed. And now with the true Thundercracker once again alive and awake from his long time of dormancy, your time is running out." The god sighs, optics following the drooping of the seeker's wings as realization slowly worms its way into the processor.

"So, I am dying, is that what you are telling me?" he asks in a voice filled with pain and sorrow.

"Essentially, yes. It all depends on the true identity of the spark how fast the Host fades. Sometimes it only takes a few orns, other times up to a complete vorn. But you will eventually fade out of existence." Primus smiles sadly. "Unless you are the one to fulfill the Prophecy of Prima, the very words whispered to you by the storming winds of the Sky Mausoleum. Those winds are unforgiving to those not affected by the utmost sorrow in their sparks and even the strongest flier avoids them, but if you are to try you will need to confront them head on to be where you need to be at the time you need." And with those words Primus fades out of existence, before Thundercracker once again finds himself as a spectator inside his own frame.

" _You will need his cooperation if you are to try."_  He hears the final whisper of the god.

"…everything is dark to me; it is like I have just woken up from a long time of stasis." He hears the true Thundercracker answer to Skywarps question, and he realizes that no more than a klik has passed since he was dragged into that strange vision.

With a sense of urgency he settles in the back of the processor, a noticeable presence to the blue seeker as he contemplates the knowledge given by the god, and his own fate if he doesn't manage to fulfill that prophecy. But since this frame essentially no longer is his, and never will be anymore he will need the benevolence of the true identity. A feat he doubts will be easy. The timeframe isn't helping either, and he still doesn't know when or what the seventeenth orn of Prima's Blessing is, or when the star of the seventh quadrant is standing right. The only thing he knows is that he needs to be on Cybertron, on top of the Sky Mausoleum at that very moment to fulfill the prophecy he actually doesn't understand one bit of, just knowing that it has a way for him to survive.

A sudden rush of feelings draws his attention, and much to his surprise every sign of hostility and aggression is gone from the blue seeker, replaced with fond feelings and a sense of hope. Turning his attention to their surroundings he realizes that the reason to the strong affectionate feelings is that Starscream finally is awake.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Anyone already able to understand parts of the Prophecy of Prima?:D
> 
> "When darkness become light, the ultimate action setting free, a new hope for the life we all now will see, on the rise of the seventeenth orn of Prima's Blessing with the star of the seventh quadrant shining its light you need to be there where even the dead remains alive. When one never alone becomes two and one pleading his life to peace becomes a source of mass destruction, the time for the final battle has come, and if gods will it, peace as well."


	10. Authors note

Sorry to dissapoint those of you waiting for the next chapter in this story, but as the chapter title says this time, this is just an authors note.

I have been sick in 14 days and am first out of it now, during that time i have been working as much as i could on this little story, but now that my head works properly again I have come to realize that i dont like how the last 2 chapters has turned out and i am currently trying to rewrite and change in them to my satisfaction, especially since it is a delicate subject to suddenly have 2 Thundercracker's... Before i can carry on with the next chapter i simply need to sort out the issues i feel there is. there might not be much of a change, even if i already can see that whole chapter 8 is going to be greatly changed at some point, i havent yet moved into chapter 9, so cant say how much i will change in that one.

So this is a heads up to those of you following this little one that there will/might be some radical changes, and i dont know how AO3 works with replacing chapters and notifications...

Greeting Tolaya, and now that im back on my feet, A happy new year to you all.


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